Ma. Elena J. Manansala

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President, UST Faculty of Pharmacy Alumni Association (2016 – Present)
Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy (2013 – 2015)
Asst. Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy (2002 – 2013)

Dean Ellen as she is fondly called started her teaching career right after graduating Magna cum Laude from her program BS Pharmacy in March 1971 and placing top 7^th in the Pharmacist Licensure Examination.  Among the courses she taught in Faculty of Pharmacy were Inorganic Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Qualitative and Quantitative Chemistry, General Inorganic Chemistry, Botany and Pharmacognosy.

It was her love to impart knowledge that made her stay for 43 years in the Academe occupying various assignments and positions until her appointment in June, 2002 as Assistant Dean. Together with then Dean Rosalinda Solevilla PhD, she conceptualized  the 5-year BS Clinical Pharmacy  as a specialization to a new trend of pharmacy practice in a hospital setting. A special screening process for admission  to this program in 2006 and graduating  23 students with latin honors in a class of 50 and 100 per cent passing rate in the Licensure Examination for that program  with Dean Priscilla Torres PhD as Dean in 2011. 

Assoc. Prof. Ellen assumed  Deanship in June 2013 until her retirement in May 2015. During her term, she steered the different working committees in the Faculty of Pharmacy to attain PACUCOA Accreditations levels: Level 4 – B.S. Pharmacy Program, Level 3 Reaccreditation – B.S. Medical Technology Program, Level 1 – B.S. Biochemistry Program. She oversaw the application and submission of  requirements  to CHED for both Pharmacy and Medical Technology Programs to be Centers for Excellence, encouraging all faculty members to finish their graduate degree programs which was realized at the end of her term.  She mobilized the Student Exchange Program with other Universities in Chulalongkorn University and Mahidol University in Thailand, Kebangsaan University and Universiti Sains Malaysia. She chaired the 5th Philippine Pharmaceutical Research Congress Jan. 2014 – where foreign and local researchers, in the industries and academe gave lectures on their expertise and students exhibited their theses and researches on drugs, plants and animals. 

Along with teaching, Dean Ellen was also active in the UST Faculty of Pharmacy Alumni Association and Scholarship Foundation, Inc. (USTFPAASFI) and helped in  its registration with the Security and Exchange Commision. Through her leadership, the Association was able to publish a coffee table book about the history of Faculty of Pharmacy entitled “Reminiscence, Luminescence, Beneficence” as part of its 140^th Foundation Anniversary.  The project was a collaboration among alumni, academe and students. 

After her retirement in 2015 she was elected as president of the USTFPAASFI, and with it the responsibilities of managing the different projects of the association with the support and cooperation of its  Board of Trustees. These are  the  scholarship program, the community outreach with the Clinical Pharmacy Society and the  yearly homecomings highlighting the  recognition given  to the Pharmacy Alumni including Medical Technology, Biochemistry and Botany as outstanding professionals of the different sectors in society.

Dean Ellen grew up in Zamboanga City where she graduated as the high school valedictorian in Pilar College until she came to Manila for her baccalaureate program.  At present she enjoys her retirement with husband, Ernie.  Weekly lunch with her family and three grandsons, Noah, Sebastian and Andrei is always a special treat for family bonding.